1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a post cap that serves as a holder and support for fence, tension or trellis wire, an insulator, a safety guard to prevent persons or livestock from contacting sharp edges at the top of a post, a marker, a reflector, or a color coded sign. More specifically, it concerns a connection for attaching fence or trellis wire to a supporting post by lateral movement of a tensioned wire from a position adjacent the connection to a supportive position within the connection.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is desirable for one man to be able to build a fence or a trellis and tighten wire used therein. Sometimes wire can be tied to the side of a post, but there are situations that require different connections. When a wire supports a heavy load, such as a trellis wire supporting grape vines, it is desirable that the wire pass vertically above the post that acts as a support column. In the case of an electrified fence, the live wire must be insulated and it is desirable that the wire be medially located so that animals on either side of the post have an equal chance of contacting the live wire. Support rings and annular insulators have been used for holding wire at posts, but the wire must be inserted axially through the ring openings. When the wire is tightened between three or more posts with an intermediate post ring opening being out of either vertical or horizontal alignment, the tensioned wire tends to straighten out, placing stress on the intermediate post ring and perhaps causing movement. Thus, alignment of intermediate post ring openings is important, but a difficult task for one man working alone.
When fencing wire is attached to the side of a post, it is customary to allow spacing between the top fencing wire and the top of the post. Thus, the full post height is not utilized. By supporting the top fencing wire at the top of the post, either a shorter post could be used for the same height of fence or the same length post could be driven further into the ground for more support.
Steel fence posts of the studded T-type are cut to length when hot in a gullotine shear. They are driven into the ground either with a sledge hammer or a fence post drive and this can results in deformation of the post top. Thus, edges at the top of a post are sharp and can cause serious injury to people and animals that contact them.
It is desirable to make a fence readily visible so that animals and people will not run into it. The upper ends of fence posts are dipped in paint of a color contrasting with the remainder of the posts and the intended vicinity thereof so as to serve as a marker of fence location. U.S. Pat. No. 3,267,805, issued Aug. 23, 1966 to Ackerman, discloses plastic caps with light reflectors for use on fence posts adjacent rural roads to delineate the marginal lines of the roadway at night by reflecting light from the headlights of passing vehicles. This patent also discloses that plastic caps can be fabricated from synthetic resin pigmented in various colors.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,444,834, issued Feb. 13, 1923 to Hindmarsh, discloses a cap used for driving fence posts. U.S. Pat. No. 1,021,408, issued Mar. 26, 1912, to Huber, shows a metallic fence post having wire receiving recesses for holding line wires.